Man steals $4,000 worth of coral from fish tank

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http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15126479&s_cid=rss-148

Well bars would look bad for business I think, and it still wouldn't keep someone from breaking the glass anyways. My family has a restaurant and has been broken into a few times. With the layout of the space the front is all windows and you can see right to the order counter. We display the emptied cash register drawer on the counter and have a light shine on it at night. Least if a burglar wants cash they'd see it would be hopeless.

I agree with popbosephus, "I don't care what retail business it is, if the opportunity presents for it to walk out of the store... it will." We've had customers steal potted houseplants from the dining area in broad daylight. Why would you not want the front tank displays on watch? If anything it's to keep someone from sabotaging the display tanks.

In our store we are a Hobby Store and we sell R/C cars, planes, helicopters and a whole line of parts for reparing all of these. In one brake in they didn't even hit the cash drawer they took all invintory to sell I'm sure.

Retail is definitely different than food service. For us, afterhours it's cash they'd want. I mean if they want uncooked food they could get that too LOL

sorry to hear about your break ins.

I'm goin to throw my 2 cents in just to try to inform some people of how things really work. I might make some of you mad, but sometimes the truth hurts. Just so everyone of you know I'm a 2nd generation police officer with 10 years experience so I'm not just talking about things I have no idea about. Crimes such as this happen all the time. Your best line of defense is personal attention to your customers and cameras. The more cameras the better, and keep in mind you get what you pay for. Someone previously mentioned fingerprints. The truth about fingerprints in this case they would probably not be very useful, even if they were able to find useful prints. Thing are not as you see on tv. There is not always fingerprints or DNA. The truth is in most cases there are no usable prints due to high traffic or smudging. In a business such as this there are probably prints everywhere. If they managed to get usable prints they would still have to match someone who has been fingerprinted in the past. If there was by chance a match to fingerprints you would still have to be able to prove it was them that committed the theft. This person could easily explain their prints being there if they have ever shopped on the store prior to the theft. That's why I say personal attention and cameras. You have witnesses and video evidence, and that is hard to refute.

There was another post stating that police are useless. Well I have a problem with that statement, and know thousands more police officers that would as well. We can only do what the laws allow us to do. The problem lies with the people making the laws and legal rulings being made that give people such as this their more rights and protections. I will pose a question to all of you. Who are the people making the laws? Answer Lawyers. Next question. Who are making judicial rulings making it more difficult for law enforcement to enforce these laws? Answer Judges. What do these to have in common? They are all lawyers. If they really wanted to eliminate crime they could pass laws that are clear and consice. They could also stop making rulings creating more loop holes for criminals to get away with their crimes. You may be wondering why they don't do this. It is very simple. Job Security. If laws were clear and consice with no legal loop holes people would not be hiring lawyers to fight the charges. It would be obvious they were guilty, and therefore there would be less of a demand for lawyers. It boils down to maintaining the need for lawyers.

I just thought I would help put things into perspective.

I also want to suggest before you start bad mouthing the police think about who you would call if your life or your families lives were in danger. Yes those useless cops, and we would be there no matter what. We are there 24/7 willing to risk our lives to help save your life and property. So think about that before you start running your mouth.

Its a shame that someone in this hobby would do that to a LFS !
If he is caught , he should be forced to work for free and grow new corals for this store owner .

Ray


Ps. Get a CPL/CCW .
Become a sheep Dog , not a Sheep .

" after all , when seconds count , the police are only minutes away "

Here here Fish Head. thanks for the input. I agree with you on everything you mentioned. Every time we had a brake in the police responded and for that I am grateful even though there was nothing they could do about it. It's good to know they are near by and can come when needed. Thanks to all our men in blue.

fish head 378 wrote:

I'm goin to throw my 2 cents in just to try to inform some people of how things really work. I might make some of you mad, but sometimes the truth hurts. Just so everyone of you know I'm a 2nd generation police officer with 10 years experience so I'm not just talking about things I have no idea about. Crimes such as this happen all the time. Your best line of defense is personal attention to your customers and cameras. The more cameras the better, and keep in mind you get what you pay for. Someone previously mentioned fingerprints. The truth about fingerprints in this case they would probably not be very useful, even if they were able to find useful prints. Thing are not as you see on tv. There is not always fingerprints or DNA. The truth is in most cases there are no usable prints due to high traffic or smudging. In a business such as this there are probably prints everywhere. If they managed to get usable prints they would still have to match someone who has been fingerprinted in the past. If there was by chance a match to fingerprints you would still have to be able to prove it was them that committed the theft. This person could easily explain their prints being there if they have ever shopped on the store prior to the theft. That's why I say personal attention and cameras. You have witnesses and video evidence, and that is hard to refute.

There was another post stating that police are useless. Well I have a problem with that statement, and know thousands more police officers that would as well. We can only do what the laws allow us to do. The problem lies with the people making the laws and legal rulings being made that give people such as this their more rights and protections. I will pose a question to all of you. Who are the people making the laws? Answer Lawyers. Next question. Who are making judicial rulings making it more difficult for law enforcement to enforce these laws? Answer Judges. What do these to have in common? They are all lawyers. If they really wanted to eliminate crime they could pass laws that are clear and consice. They could also stop making rulings creating more loop holes for criminals to get away with their crimes. You may be wondering why they don't do this. It is very simple. Job Security. If laws were clear and consice with no legal loop holes people would not be hiring lawyers to fight the charges. It would be obvious they were guilty, and therefore there would be less of a demand for lawyers. It boils down to maintaining the need for lawyers.

I just thought I would help put things into perspective.

I also want to suggest before you start bad mouthing the police think about who you would call if your life or your families lives were in danger. Yes those useless cops, and we would be there no matter what. We are there 24/7 willing to risk our lives to help save your life and property. So think about that before you start running your mouth.

Wow, touchy.

By your own admission, there's nothing police can or will do for this guy who's had his corals lifted. Your (professional) advice to him is to regard everyone with suspicion and watch them like a hawk, which doesn't surprise me. I don't think anybody wants to run their shop like a prison and I know I wouldn't want to patronize one that does.

Legislators write the laws, and they come from many different professional backgrounds - doctors, building contractors, used car salesmen, and yes, sometimes lawyers. Also, I have to say that I find it amusing that you'd invoke the interest in professional/political self-preservation in defense of police.

If my family is in danger, I will protect them - I'm not going to cower in a corner in the hope that a policeman will arrive in time to deliver us. Hope is a fool's ambition.

Finally, police do not deserve special recognition or gratitude. Police are neither conscripted nor indentured - they asked for the job knowing full well what is involved, are compensated, and can quit if they so choose. Too many cops would have ordinary citizens worship the badge, an attitude that borders on extortion.

Can we have like... less political dbaggery on the salt boards? A store owner having his coral jacked, during business hours mind you, is his own fault. The 4k in stuff he lost probably includes 2500 dollars worth of markup. It was posted as an informational article to be read, not to spark some sort of heated debate over the usefulness of law enforcement.

I have trouble discerning your agenda RyanH. These are fish forums... politics and the implied meaning of clip art forums are elsewhere.

popebosephus wrote:

Can we have like... less political dbaggery on the salt boards? A store owner having his coral jacked, during business hours mind you, is his own fault. The 4k in stuff he lost probably includes 2500 dollars worth of markup. It was posted as an informational article to be read, not to spark some sort of heated debate over the usefulness of law enforcement.

Fine. The whole thing started when I suggested that if law enforcement can't do much or anything to prevent these break-ins, then the proprietors ought to do what they can themselves. Officer fish head decided that I must have meant that police are utterly useless in every respect.

popebosephus wrote:

I have trouble discerning your agenda RyanH. These are fish forums... politics and the implied meaning of clip art forums are elsewhere.

No agenda, I'm just not going to roll over when somebody crosses the fish line to espouse a popularly-held but dubious philosophy.

Ryan. You seem a bit spunky about everything. You might want to chill out.

Having a ruff week?

This forum is not going to tolerate drama. Plese keep everything down to earth and calm. No need to get pissy with people when you post.

Thanks.

so live and let die.

Thanks KMX. Much appreciated.

No problem at all.

I appologize if I offended anyone. That was not my intent. I just wanted to give out a little bit of information on the subject.

I have been a little on edge this week due to a fellow officer being murdered while conducting a traffic stop, and I went on a little rant in my post. I feel that when someone makes negative remarks concerning people in my profession I'm obligated to respond. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

AgainI'im sorry if I upset or offended anyone.

No apology necessary. I think I can speak for most of when I say we appreciate the good that you guys do. Very sorry to hear about your friend and may God Bless you all.

majesticaquatic wrote:

That guy has balls. that and no brain and respect.

mebbe brain coral